August 17, 2009: With the number of Muslims in
Germany higher than previously thought to be the case, it comes
as no surprise that the four million Muslims here (about five
percent of Germany's population) would want to be able to
worship in mosques. The number of mosques has increased in
recent years, and a project to build a main mosque in Cologne
for the Muslim community has Germans asking the question: "How
big should Muslim mosques be?" Among those who have asked the
question is Edmund Stoiber, who as governor of Bavaria wanted
cathedrals to be higher than mosques. His argument was that
Christian Germans still make up a majority of the population
and the country's main culture is influenced most by
Christianity.

The planned mosque in Cologne has been the subject of
intense debate for several years. The Cologne city board of
directors approved the construction of the mosque in August
2008. Cologne's mayor Fritz Schramma, a member of the
conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), supports the
project but many of his own party members have strong
reservations. They see the proposed mosque as a show of force
from the Muslim side.
The plans for the Cologne mosque show a
prayer room large enough to accommodate 1200 worshippers,
and the slim minarets will be 55 meters (180 feet) high.
The dome over the prayer room will be 35 meters (115 feet)
high. The height of the minarets was a subject of
discussion, since some wondered whether they would
"compete" with the Cologne Cathedral some 4.5 kilometers
distant. However, the cathedral is 157 meters (515 feet)
high and will continue to dominate the Cologne
skyline.

Public reaction to the planned mosque has been mixed. The
dome will include see-through glass, making it possible to see
into the mosque. The German weekly "Die Zeit" interpreted this
as a symbol of Islam's openness towards the world. Islam critic
Necla Kelek, who is from an orthodox Muslim family in Turkey,
interprets the architecture differently. According to her, "the
globe is a symbol of conquest, and people can see the dome and
the minarets as a Muslim demand to get world domination."

For some the building's size is evidence that Muslims really
don't want to be integrated into German society. Necla Kelek
sees the mosque as sowing "the seeds for a parallel society. We
have already seen that particularly large mosques develop into
their own cities – their own Medinas." Well known atheist
Ralph Giordano agrees. In comments made to German TV station
WDR, Giordano said: "The building permit is an anti-integration
decision. Just the mosque's size shows that Muslims are
demanding power."

Cologne mayor Fritz Schramma's change on the question of the
language of prayer will be interpreted as a setback for
integration. Schramma originally demanded that all prayers in
the new mosque should be in German, as is already the case in
several other mosques in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany's federal
state with the largest population. Now Schramma says that
German will not be required because not all imams speak
German.

Although the Catholic and Lutheran churches officially
support the building of mosques in Germany, the Cologne mosque
has raised questions about reciprocal tolerance. Cologne's
cardinal Joachim Meisner wants Muslims in Germany to start
fighting for Christian rights in Muslim countries in return for
the mosques they are allowed to build in Germany. Augsburg's
bishop Walter Mixa warned the authorities against allowing such
large buildings as the mosque in Cologne. "In countries which
are mainly pervaded by Muslim culture, Christians really have
no rights. Therefore we should not allow mosques with pompous
minarets in Germany. In a Christian society it's enough if the
Muslims have a place where they can hold prayers," bishop Mixa
said.